Card tray for playing cards and the like



N\\\\\\\\ a A 0 mo m y N Z May 12, 1925.

C. E. ALBERT CARD TRAY FOR PLAYING CARD 5 AND THE LIKE Filed March '7,1925 May 12, 1925.

entree STATES? rarsn r GFFELCE'.

CLIFFGRD E. ALBERT, OE CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TU THE FNITED STATESPLAY- ING CARD COIVIPANY, OF NORWOOD, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

CARD TRAY FOR PLAYING CARDS AND THE LIKE Application filed. March 7,1925.v Serial No. 13,897.

J 'o all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Gnrrronn E. ALBERT, 1'citizen of the United States of America, and

a resident of Cincinnati, inthe county of.

Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvementsina Card- T ray for Playing Cards and the like, of which the followingis a. specification.

This invention relates to card holders for playing cards and hasfor anobject the provision of novel and useful n'iea-ns for holding groups orhands t cards, which havebeen previously shuflled and dealt in theirrespec-. tive groups or hands ready for subsequent use by players. I

Another object is tov provide a: device of this character whichprecludes accidental confusion of the separated groups or hands ofcards.

Another object is to provide a device of this kind in which the cards ofa given. group or hand are yieldingly held against accidental sliding orspilling out of the tray.

Another object is to provide a device of this type which is adapted tofree insertion d removal of the cards from the tray. Another object isto provide a device of this kind which is foldable. into a compact formand may be inserted in; the carrying case which will fit the pocket.

These and other objects are attained by the means described herein. anddisclosed in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a hinged card tray of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal cross sectional view taken on line 22 of Fig.1.

F 3 is a perspective view of a cover case for the hinged foldable trayshown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4; is a view similar to that of Fig. 2 and disclosing another formof the device of my invention.

Fig. is a view similar to that of Fig. 2 and showing a modification.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to that of Fig. 2 and showing anothermodification.

T he card tray comprises a pair of similar containers 8 hingedly mountedupon one another along one of their longitudinal edges 9. The containers8 thus hingedly mounted may be folded one upon the other with theirmajor faces 10 in abutment one with the other or may be spread out withtheir minor or narrow faces 11 in abutment one with the other. In thisway the tray may be spread out flat upon: the. table before a playerwith all of the cards in the container readily accessible or the.containers may be folded one upon the other as described and insertedinto a suitable carrying case such as 12 (see; Fig.

to provide a dust proof container for a) pack of cards. Each of thecontainers 8 being alike, at (lGSC'll'PUOII of one will suffice forboth. The container 8 conrprises a. hollow rectangular bodyportionboundech by side provided with a resilient member 18.- which maytake the form of a false wall which is secured adjacent the ends 14: and15 of the; walls 10 of the container; false walls 18 are substantiallylonger than the normal depth of the compartments 1'5 so that when theend 19 of the resilient wall 18 is made; to coincide. withthe ends 14 or15,. a bl-i ged or spring portion 18 will be disposed within thecompartment 17. From. the foregoing it will be apparent that when agroup or hand of cards such as 20 are in sorted in one of thecompartments 17 that the resilient wall 18 will exert its pressure uponsuch group of cards and yieldingly bind them against the commonlongitudinal wall 13 of the compartment. It will be fur ther apparentfrom Fig. 2 that each compartment serves to independently retain a givengroup of cards inserted therein and that by providing suitable lingeropenings or notches 21 at the ends of the containers 8, a group of cardsmay be readily grasped with the fingers and slidably removed from theinterior of the resilient wall 18. It should be noted that the bottoms16 of the compartments 17 are somewhat spaced from the ends 1 1- and 15of the container so as to provide sufficient space from which the (ingeropenings 21 may be cut.

As shown in Fig. 2 the resilient walls 18. bottoms 19 and the commonlongitud nal wall 13 are preferably formed of an in The resilient ortegral sheet or strip of material So that such sheet may be folded orcreased and be secured to the inner faces of the walls 10 of thecontainer 8 thereby roviding a structure which is comparative yinexpensive of manufacture and very simply and easily assembled. Asshown in Fig. 4 the common wall 18 may comprise a pair of resilientmembers 22 in which case the equivalent of the walls 18, ends 16 andcommon wall 13 may comprise a pair of integral strips or sheets so thatthe common wall between the compartments may comprise the resilientmeans for holding the cards in their respective compartments. As shownin Fig. 5

' the strip may comprlse a single resilient wall 23 common to both ofthe compartments 17. As shown in Fig. 6, the common wall 24 of thecompartments 17 comprises the resilient member and embraces a longerportion of the material and consequently is provided with a plurality ofbulged or curved resilient portions which will exert a somewhat greaterpressure upon the cards 20 in the compartments 17. The use and operationof the device is obvious and requires but little consideration. Vhen thetray is filled each of the four compartments may hold a group or hand ofcards so that one tray will serve to hold a deck of cards in a shufliedand divided condition ready for being removed and handed to players. Ashas been previously mentioned the tray and its contents may betelescoped into the case 12 so that the device will occupy a minimum ofspace and can readily be carried in the coat pocket.

What I claim is:

1. In a device of the class described the combination with a pair ofcontainers open attheir opposite ends, and hingedly mounted alonglongitudinal edges of said containers, a longitudinal interior Walldividing each container into a pair of compartments accessible fromopposite ends of the container, and resilient means embracing the wallporti( ns of each compartment for yieldingly retaining a group of cardswithin said compartment.

2. In a device of the class described the combination with a pair ofcontainers having compartments therein, said compartments being open atopposite ends of the container, and resilient means comprising a wallportion of each compartment for yieldingly retaining cards in saidcompartments.

3. In a device of the class described the combination with a pair ofcontainers each having a pair of compartments therein, the compartmentsin each container being open at opposite ends of said container, meansfor hingedly mounting the containers one upon the other alonglongitudinal edges thereof whereby the containers may be tolded one uponthe other, and a case men'iber for telescopically receiving the pair ofcontainers in folded relation.

4. In a device of the class described the combination with a rectangularcontainer body, a strip of resilient material having its ends securedupon the opposite inner faces at the opposite ends of the rectangulareontainer and its intermediate portion bent at angles to provide a pairof uniform coinpartments Within the container, said compartmentscomprising side walls and bottom walls formed by the resilient member,one of the. side walls of each compartment being bulged to yieldinglyresist insertion and removal of cards from the compartments.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 3rd day ofMarch, 1925.

CLIFFORD E. ALBERT

